Talking about watches and inspiration can spawn some pretty interesting debates, and for good reason – especially in the dive watch category. Of course, early dive watches weren’t “inspired by” anything; dive watches were tools created with a very distinct purpose. That said, as the years went on and the dive watch category moved away from practical utility towards desirable daily-wearers, design inspiration soon came into play. Today we’re looking at luxury watches inspired by the ocean, and digging into the stories behind the creation of each piece and how they relate to the big blue beyond.As mentioned above, there is no reason to go into a Rolex Submariner history lesson here; however, the Rolex Sea-Dweller Deepsea with D-Blue dial (a variant of the original Deepsea that was first unveiled in 2008) has a very distinct connection to our world’s deepest waters.The origins of this piece come from Rolex’s involvement in (read: sponsorship of) James Cameron’s deep dive into the Mariana Trench. Though not limited in production, the piece is commemorative of the 2012 dive, and features a gradient blue to black dial that mimics the loss of light as one descends into the ocean’s depths. Additionally, the green chosen for the DEEPSEA text on its dial is matched to the color of Cameron’s Deepsea Challenger Submarine that took a prototype Rolex watch all the way down into the trench affixed to one of its robotic arms.The legacy of Jacques-Yves Cousteau is unparalleled in the world of underwater exploration, and many years ago (back in 2004 to be precise), IWC decided to become a partner of the Cousteau Society – a non-profit organization looking to continue the initiatives set out by Jacques-Yves several decades prior. From the onset of the partnership, IWC has included special limited-edition Aquatimer models in their collections, with a portion of the proceeds of each watch headed towards the organization.Of their bigger undertakings, Cousteau’s famed research vessel (named ‘Calypso’) was raised from the sea floor after sinking on account of an incident in Singapore in 1996. Progress on Calypso has been slow-going, and a fire on the ship while docked in Turkey two years ago has slowed things further. Naturally, there are rumors swirling that a redesign of the IWC Aquatimer line across the board will appear in conjunction with the vessel’s unveiling.
Much like the red line of text on the dial of the latest Sea-Dweller, the bright orange, arrow-shaped 24-hour hand on the latest incarnation of the Rolex Explorer II is a design element directly borrowed from the very first version of the watch from 1971. For a number of decades, this style of 24-hour hand was entirely absent from the Rolex watch catalog, during which time, the Explorer II shared a 24-hour hand design with Rolex’s GMT-Master II line of watches.However, in 2011 for its 40th anniversary, the Explorer II line received a complete makeover, both inside and out. Although the vast majority of the new reference 216570 Explorer II was completely different from the original version and classifies it as an undisputedly modern timepiece, the large, orange-colored, arrow-shaped, 24-hour hand is aesthetically almost identical to the one on the original version of the Explorer II from the early 1970s.A significant part of the allure of the Rolex GMT-Master II 126710BLRO is rooted in its vintage-inspired design elements, such as its red and blue, “Pepsi” bezel insert and its Jubilee-style bracelet. The very first Rolex GMT-Master watches from the mid-1950s were made from stainless steel and fitted with half-red, half-blue bezel inserts; however, ever since the introduction of Cerachrom (ceramic) bezels, half-red, half-blue “Pepsi” bezel inserts were only available on the 18k white gold version of Rolex’s GMT-Master II. The reference 126710 GMT-Master II marked the return of a stainless steel “Pepsi” GMT, as well as the return of the Jubilee bracelet to the GMT-Master line.
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